Changchun Yatai F.C.


Changchun Yatai Football Club is a Chinese professional football club based in Changchun, Jilin, that competes in. Changchun Yatai plays its home matches at the Changchun Stadium, located within Nanguan District. The club's founder and main investor is the private Chinese conglomerate Jilin Yatai Group.
The club was formed on 6 June 1996, before making their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 1997 league season. In 2000, they bought a position into the second division after they merged with Huizhou PLA Saonon. In 2001, they finished as runners-up within their division. However, they were denied promotion after they were embroiled in [2001 Chinese association football|football match-fixing scandal|a match-fixing scandal]. The club would reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license before they eventually gained promotion to China's top flight at the end of the 2005 league campaign. In the 2007 Chinese Super League, they won the league title and participated in the 2008 AFC Champions League for the first time. They have since gone on to come in second at the 2009 Chinese Super League and also participated in the AFC Champions League.
WWW yataifc.cn

History

Changchun Yatai was founded on 6 June 1996, by local conglomerate Jilin Yatai Group in Changchun, Jilin, to take part in the league system that was fully professionalized recently, which allowed private enterprises to own their own clubs. The club would select a dragon kicking a ball as their crest while assembling the club's senior team. And to make sure they had a competitive youth system, they also brought in the best youth players from Shenyang before moving them into their recently created football training base at a cost of two million yuan, while the total cost of starting the whole enterprise would end up being 20 million yuan. For the next several seasons, the club achieved very little until they bought a position into the second tier when the club took over Huizhou PLA Saonon at the beginning of the 2000 league season for fifteen million yuan, while during the season the team maintained an unbeaten home record but still finished in a disappointing fifth at the end of the season. The following season, the club's manager, Yin Tiesheng, looked like he could improve upon last years results when he guided the club to a runners-up position and what looked like promotion to the top tier for the first time. However, it was soon discovered that the 6 October 2001, game that Changchun won 6–0 against Zhejiang Green Town was fixed. This saw the club denied promotion and had all offending participants banned for a year, while the club had three months to reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license. Despite this, Yin Tiesheng stayed on and promoted future Chinese internationals Du Zhenyu, Zhang Xiaofei, and Cao Tianbao from the club's youth team, which was assembled from Shenyang, into the senior team. These players in 2003 would go on to win the Jia B title, but the club was not promoted due to the creation of the Super League.
Yin Tiesheng would leave the club in 2004 to take the Chinese U20 head coach position and Chen Jingang was brought in as the new manager. Within his reign, Chen Jingang guided the club to a runner-up spot in the China League One division in 2005 and promotion to the Super League. In the club's debut season, they finished fourth. However, Chen Jingang was relieved of his duties after he lost it in the dressing room by threatening to dock player wagers if he was unsatisfied with their performances. In 2007, Gao Hongbo was brought in as the new manager and in his debut season, he won the Chinese Super League title with them. This would see Changchun allowed entry to the 2008 AFC Champions League for the first time, along with Beijing Guoan, and played their first game against Vietnamese football club Bình Dương on 12 March 2008, in a 2–1 victory While the club finished the group runners-up only, one team was allowed to go through the knock out stages and the club crashed out of the tournament. This, unfortunately, affected the club's league performance and Gao Hongbo was fired during the season.
In September 2008, Li Shubin was brought in to manage the club and to see out the remainder of the 2008 league season. However, under his leadership, results improved and the club went on to have an industrious following campaign that saw them come runners-up at the end of the 2009 Chinese Super League campaign. Despite achieving consistently good performances for the team, the club decided that they wanted Shen Xiangfu to manage the team for the following season and within one of his first games for the club in the 2010 AFC Champions League, on 9 March 2010, Changchun beat Indonesian side Persipura Jayapura 9–0, making the victory the largest ever within the AFC Champions League for a Chinese side. Shen Xiangfu was, however, unable to guide Changchun into the knockout stages despite there being two places up for grabs and his league performances were not impressive. Despite this, the club held on to him for another season where he fared little better and at the beginning of the 2012 Chinese Super League season, the club brought in Svetozar Šapurić as the club's new manager.
In the 2018 Chinese Super League, Changchun underperformed in the last third of the season, finishing 15th. The team was relegated to the China League One. The 2019 season saw Changchun come close to earning promotion immediately back into the top tier, with a ten-game unbeaten streak in the middle of the season. Ultimately, though, the club slipped towards the end of the season and finished the campaign in fifth place. However, Changchun won the 2020 China League One title and returned to the Chinese Super League after a two-year absence.
After a five-year spell in the Chinese Super League, Changchun Yatai were relegated to China League One in the 2025 season.

Players

Retired numbers

12 – Club Supporters (the 12th Man) retired in 2017.

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Honours

League

Results

All-time League rankings
As of the end of the 2023 season.
YearDivPtsPos.FA CupSuper CupLeague CupAFCAtt./GStadium
19973511349−536DNQDNQ
19993126342071365DNQDNQ
2000222710528226315QFDNQChangchun Stadium
2001222126439152442RUQFDNQChangchun Stadium
200222284103035−5288R1DNQChangchun Stadium
2003226158351153653WR2DNQChangchun Stadium
200423213127533419515R1DNQDevelopment Area Stadium
2005226204271224964RUR1DNQChangchun Stadium
20061281378412615464R18,607Changchun Stadium
2007128167548252355W16,429Changchun Stadium
2008130129953458456Group5,797Changchun Stadium
200913014883831750RU12,179Development Area Stadium
2010130108124041−1389Group10,067Development Area Stadium
20111301112733312457R313,835Development Area Stadium
2012130128103740−3446QFDNQ12,701Development Area Stadium
201313088142941−123214R4DNQ12,975Development Area Stadium
201413088143340−73213R3DNQ12,886Development Area Stadium
2015130811113947−83510R3DNQ14,855Development Area Stadium
2016130105153044−143512R3DNQ15,202Development Area Stadium
20171301281046415447R3DNQ16,477Development Area Stadium
201813088144556−113215R4DNQ18,819Changchun Stadium
20192301587524210535R16DNQ13,785Changchun Stadium
202021510412872134WQFDNQ-
20211221165312011394R16DNQ-
20221341111124950−14413R2DNQChangchun Stadium
2023130109114448-4399R16DNQ15,872Changchun Stadium

  • Did not enter in the 1998 campaign.
  • In group stages. Promotion to Jia-A league was cancelled due to match fixing. No promotion.
Key

  • Pld = Played
  • W = Games won
  • D = Games drawn
  • L = Games lost
  • F = Goals for
  • A = Goals against
  • Pts = Points
  • Pos = Final position
  • DNQ = Did not qualify
  • DNE = Did not enter
  • NH = Not Held
  • R1 = Round 1
  • R2 = Round 2
  • R3 = Round 3
  • R4 = Round 4
  • F = Final
  • SF = Semi-finals
  • QF = Quarter-finals
  • R16 = Round of 16
  • Group = Group stage
  • GS2 = Second Group stage
  • QR1 = First Qualifying Round
  • QR2 = Second Qualifying Round
  • QR3 = Third Qualifying Round